Sunday, 7 June 2015

first weekend in June

We managed to spend quite a bit of time at the allotment over the weekend. I survived my first shed duty and had lots of left handed handwriting practice in the process, the receipts look like an 8 year old has written them as opposed to a 5 year old, so that's progress! I also got an opportunity to meet some of the other plot holders I hadn't spoken to before and talk compost, weed killer and netting. Luckily I had the help from another committee member who was very patient with me. She was able to measure out and cut while I wrote receipts. Got to do it all on my own next time! Hopefully the little P's will be feeling helpful that day.

We currently don't have livestock on the site, but having chickens is an idea that has been raised by other members, so it was a good opportunity to gather peoples views and find out more about what the impacts could be. I think it is one idea that will be debated for while yet. Being allergic to eggs I am no hurry to set up a chicken coup on my plot, however having a source of chicken manure could be useful. Any advice on rules, regulations etc will be gratefully received.

After a morning of shed duty it was home for lunch, a few jobs, then back up to the plot for an afternoon of digging.

As promised to our neighbors on 46, I got to digging their largest raised bed. When I started it was a mass of weeds. There were bits of weed barrier here and there and several sycamore saplings as well as an oak tree starting to grow in the bed. After a few hours of digging I realised there was a large section of weed barrier I couldn't move so did my best to dig around it. Our neighbors will have to decide what they want to do with it. I don't have the strength to sort it one armed.
When finished I planted our two strongest Turks Turban hoping they will take. I've got a feeling I'm going to regret giving them the plants but we will have to see.

Before:

During:

After:

As always Charlie stayed close, keeping an eye on my every move. After a couple of hours sitting in the sun he finally got some sense and moved into the shade. I had put him in the shade to begin with but being a diva he appears to enjoy sunbathing, hot dog springs to mind.

Mark was busy on 47. He started leveling and re digging the rough dug bed towards the back of the plot. He's leveled just under half and built the frames for our cucamelon and gherkins ready to be planted.

During:

After:

The best thing about not going up to your plot for a while is exploring how well things are coming on since your previous visit. Here's how we're getting on.

Last week I gave JJ the task of planting some white radish and spinach seeds. I think these need to be thinned out somewhat, however it does show she has done a thorough job. She started digging her bed this weekend so hopefully we can transplant some into her bed.

The strawberries are coming along nicely and are starting to turn red. I've got a cage all ready to go over them and need all P's on deck to help move it.

We were given a courgette by a friend. Our melon plants have all been destroyed by the slugs so I have re homed the courgette in their empty bed. We did plant more melon seeds so I will be reading up on companion planting the two. We have also been given a cucumber and nine baby gem lettuces. That's CP and JJ happy.

Our TomTato is doing well and we have several tomatoes forming. I got into a debate with a lady at a garden centre last week about the TomTato. She was saying that they were genetically modified and why anyone would consider purchasing one was beyond her. I really couldn't help myself! I informed her that they were not genetically modified but were in actual fact grafted. She still didn't like the idea, I however picked up another one. ;)

I haven't grown beefsteak tomatoes before but ours is doing rather well and is fruiting.

Our blueberries are doing really well this year. Last year they struggled. (It didn't help Mark standing on the plant!) We made sure it was well staked this year and visible! Given the number of blueberries it seems to be thriving.

The berries in the fruit cages on 47 seem to be doing well and are also forming nicely.

I managed to get up to the plot for an hour this morning so started clearing this bed ready for the herbs. I will post a picture of the finished bed.

So what's this next weeks challenge?

We have a greenhouse full of different plants all ready to go in, so this weeks mission is to get them all planted.